Woman kills physically challenged bro-in-law

She wanted to free her husband of liabilities, get a bigger share in property

Frustrated over her husband’s family’s dependence on him and the delay in sharing her father-in-law’s property, a 28-year-old woman has murdered her physically challenged brother-in-law. With his being out of the way, she assumed the burden on her husband would reduce and they would get a share in the property, which would pave the way for her to build her dream home and move out of the joint family.

After killing her brother-in-law, the woman stayed home for four hours, pretending that he had died a natural death in his sleep. She made arrangements for the funeral rites and even informed all her relatives.

But the deceased’s divorced wife and his sister who suspected foul play knocked on the doors of the police who rushed to the spot and shifted the body for post mortem. The post mortem report revealed that the cause of the death was strangulation. The police then picked the accused who was in the house with the deceased and questioned her.

The woman has reportedly confessed to killing her brother-in-law because she was unable to see her husband struggling with so many dependants.

The accused has been identified as Kavitha, a resident of Kempanna Cross in Doddamavalli. The deceased has been identified as 35-year-old Subramani. The incident happened in Kavitha’s residence on Wednesday and she was arrested on Friday.

Indrani, a 58-year-old resident of HRBR Layout had filed the complaint with the Kalasipalya police after the suspicious death of her brother Subramani. Along with Indrani, Rathna, the victim’s divorced wife had also suspected foul play behind the death. Based on these suspicions, the post mortem was conducted at the Victoria Hospital’s mortuary and the police obtained the post-mortem report on Friday.

“Kavitha, along with her husband Vijay Kumar and their two children, Kumar’s sister Baby and her two children and Subramani were staying together in Doddamavalli. Kavitha is Kumar’s second wife and was reportedly extremely upset as he had to look after his sister, her children and his brother. After the death of her parents-in-law, she wanted her father-in-law’s property to be shared among the siblings, which her husband’s sisters were delaying. Kumar is a milk vendor and his wife is a house wife,” said an officer who is a part of the investigations.

She wanted to stay separately by constructing a new house. When nothing worked for her, she decided to kill her physically challenged brother-in-law on Wednesday morning at around 11.30 am, when he returned home. She strangled him to death with a dupatta and made him lie on the bed to make it appear like he was sleeping. In the afternoon, when another family member came home and tried to wake up Subramani for lunch, they realised he was dead.

“The post-mortem revealed that the death was due to asphyxia as a result of ligature strangulation. Based on this, Kavitha was picked up for questioning as she was with the victim in the house at the time of his death,” the officer added.

The Kalasipalya police have registered a case of murder under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code and are further investigating.